WESTERN LIVING AB, JulyAugust2018 by Canada Wide Media

Falken Reynolds Perfects the Cozy Modern Vibe Designer Martine Ast’s Gorgeous ’70s Reno in Calgary

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PLUS Foodies of the Year!

PLUS The Sublime Luxury of the Old-School Safari

Bright Now

The 10 Most Influential Tastemakers in the West

SEKTION/TORHAMN Ash kitchen

149/lin.ft.

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Hello 2018,

YOU’RE LOOKING QUITE LAVISH! The trend toward maximalism is resplendent with luscious lavender, gorgeous geometrics, big, beautiful florals, and color-crazy kitchens.

• Botanicals are breaking big, covering walls, furniture, and more.

Maximalism: more is more! Make way for the luxury and elegance of violets and lavenders — Pantone named “Ultra Violet” as the color of the year. Try it in a single chair — or paint the town.

• Geometrics are both retro and reinvigorating, with circles coming on especially strong.

Do-it-for-me! Why do it yourself when having the experts do it for you has become so affordable? Some projects are great fun to DIY, but when it comes to precise measurements and installation, put a pro on the job. What a relief.

Stay flexible • Go for broke with color, collections, layers of window coverings, texture, embellishment, comfort and wildly eclectic style. A staunch minimalist? Try just one wall, fill it from floor to ceiling with art and objects. • New kitchens move from white-on-white to color, with blue and green cabinetry taking center stage.

One big trend is perfectly practical: overall interior flexibility. Stretch the space you have with furniture or design elements that serve two purposes, like a coffee table that pops up into a dining table, or a murphy bed that turns an office into a guest room.

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I N T E RI O R S

Family Matters Martine Ast and son Hugh sharing a moment in their black-and-white Calgary kitchen. See more from Astâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kid-friendly reno on page 44.

J U LY/AU G U S T 2 018 Cover: Ema Peter; this page: Eymeric Widling

B .C . & A L B E R TA // V O L U M E 4 7 // N U M B E R 6

SOMETHING SPECIAL 38 // Formula: None

In this stunning Vancouver spec house by Falken Reynolds, elegant, simple moderation informs the striking space but asks for your attention with only a whisper.

44 // Reclaimed Beauty

Designer Martine Ast gives a dated space a second chance, rethinking the floor plan, opening up the view and creating a beautiful home for herself and her family.

52 // Fresh Perspective

Designed by Robert Bailey, this 8,200square-foot house offers an elegant retreat that quietly challenges preconceived notions of coastal modernist living. westernliving.ca / j u ly / a u g u s t

2 0 1 8 â&#x20AC;&#x201A;1 3

WL // contents

design 23 // One to Watch

Franklin St. Studio crafts multi-purpose pieces with Scandinavian charm.

24 // Shopping

Art deco bathroom vanities, pretty Turkish towels and more home decor we love.

28 // Openings

A new look for Poppy Barley’s flagship, a natural-beauty boutique, and a second location for Victoria’s Salt Shop.

30 // Great Spaces

Inside an L.A.-inspired North Van hair salon with some lofty design ambition.

Lounge the summer away in style with these stunning pieces for patio perfection.

food 61 // 2018 Foodies of the Year

Meet the chefs, restaurateurs, activists and winemakers who are shaping the way we eat in the West right now.

travel 75 // A Quiet Place

Why an old-school safari is the pinnacle of luxury—the Serengeti at its most tranquil.

plus 82 // Trade Secrets

Designer Gaile Guevara shares her clever modular seating solution. 1 4 j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

JC Poirier: Carlo Ricci; giraffe: Greer Ross-McLennan; Vanilla Loft salon: Tracey Ayton

32 // Outdoor Furniture We Love

WESTERN LIVING EDITORIAL

TRUE WEST Something’s changed… in a good way! This is the first issue of Western Living published by Canada Wide Media Limited. In June, Canada Wide acquired Western Living, Vancouver magazine and associated print and digital assets from Yellow Pages Limited of Montreal. These prestigious publications — and their talented staff — now join the likes of BCBusiness, TV Week, Award and BCAA magazines in the Canada Wide stable and solidify the company’s position as western Canada’s largest independent media company, proudly owned and operated by the Legge family for more than 40 years. The acquisition is a natural fit for Burnaby, B.C.-based Canada Wide Media, which also publishes the digital brand BCLiving and in 2017 launched the hugely popular Simply Beautiful subscription box. In addition, the company offers a full range of custom media services and products for corporate customers and not-for-profit associations, from glossy print publications to e-newsletters and social media strategies. As a devoted reader, you can count on Western Living to continue bringing you the best new home design and décor ideas, delicious food and wine options, travel destinations and secret shopping haunts — all from some of the best writers and photographers in the West! Western-owned, western-operated — that’s your Western Living.

samantha legge, mba president, canada wide media

ADS, FEUDS, LODGING: Tourism Status Report p.99

WHY VANCOUVER IS

HEADED FOR A REAL

ESTATE

CRASH—AND WHY IT ISN’T p.30

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Anicka Quin EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stacey McLachlan TRAVEL EDITOR Neal McLennan ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Jenny Reed ASSOCIATE EDITOR Julia Dilworth ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Natalie Gagnon ONLINE EDITOR Kaitlyn Funk CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Amanda Ross, Nicole Sjöstedt, Barb Sligl, Jim Sutherland, Julie Van Rosendaal CITY EDITORS Karen Ashbee (Calgary), Jyllian Park (Edmonton), Rosemary Poole (Victoria) EDITORIAL INTERNS David Kitai, Sam Nar, Laryssa Vachon EMAIL mail@westernliving.ca

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CHAIRMAN & CEO Peter Legge, OBC, LLD (HON) PRESIDENT Samantha Legge, MBA SENIOR VP OF INTEGRATION Brad Liski VP OF CONTENT MARKETING Ryan McKenzie VP OF DIGITAL Kevin Hinton VP OF SALES Rebecca Legge (on leave) VP OF HR/ADMIN Joy Ginete-Cockle VP OF FINANCE Sonia Roxburgh EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Rick Thibert DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL Michael McCullough DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Kim McLane DIRECTOR OF CIRCULATION Tracy McRitchie MARKETING LEAD Chris Hinton SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR Brian Fakhraie ACCOUNTING Terri Mason, Eileen Gajowski CIRCULATION Kelly Kalirai, Lori North, Rhiannon Jones EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO PETER LEGGE Heather Vince

HOW TO BUILD A

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WORKPLACE p.110

RAISES THE BAR p.42

FOR BUSINESS

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PRIVACY POLICY From time to time, other organizations ask us if they may send some of our subscribers information about products and services that might be of interest. If you prefer that we not provide your name and address, please contact us at the address listed above. You can review our complete Privacy Policy at westernliving.ca. WESTERN LIVING MAGAZINE is published 10 times a year by Canada Wide Media Limited, Suite 230, 4321 Still Creek Drive, Burnaby, B.C. V5C 6S7. Phone 604-299-7311; Fax 604-299-9188. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. All reproduction requests must be made to COPIBEC (paper reproductions), 800-717-2022, or CEDROM-SNi (electronic reproductions), 800-563-5665. The publisher cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. This publication is indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index and the Canadian Periodical Index, and is available online in the Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database. ISSN 1920-0668 (British Columbia edition), ISSN 1920-065X (Alberta). Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement #40068973.

kitchens

bathrooms

sofas

closets

furniture

doors

WL // editor’s note

LET’S EAT TOGETHER

Q& A This month we asked our contributors, What’s been your favourite food experience this year ? Amanda Ross, “A Quiet Place” page 76 I’m a sucker for good design and triply so at the nexus of design, fashion and food. This rare trifecta exists at Colette Grand Café, Holt Renfrew’s newest restaurant still outfitted in its underappreciated original Yabu Pushelberg digs.

Eymeric Widling, “Reclaimed Beauty” page 46 My wife and I consider ourselves pasta enthusiasts, so we were thrilled to discover the huge variety of locally made artisanal pastas at our local Italian Centre Shop here in Calgary. We’ve totally fallen in love with the Prosciutto Fig and Mascarpone ravioli. Pasta night just got a bit more sophisticated!

Behind the Scenes World-champ bartender Kaitlyn Stewart shakes up a cocktail for photo duo Kyoko and David Fierro on-site at Royal Dinette—and the gents next door at Barber and Co., getting spiffed up in their chairs just behind David, were happy to act as qualitycontrol taste testers for the afternoon.

VISIT

anick a quin, editorial director anick a.quin@westernliving.ca

1 8 j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Anicka Quin portrait: Evaan Kheraj; styling by Luisa Rino, makeup by Melanie Neufeld; outfit courtesy Holt Renfrew, holtrenfrew.com

Follow Anicka on Instagram @aniqua

I was recently chatting with designer Phoebe Glasfurd—one of our 2018 Foodies of the Year and one-half of the design team that is Glasfurd and Walker—about what attracted her to designing for the restaurant scene, and I was struck by her answer. “In terms of a brand perspective, there are very few things that live fully in the real world,” she said. “A restaurant is something that is very physically and viscerally here for people and those attached to it. That’s something quite special.” She articulated a lot of why food is such a compelling piece of our culture—why so many of us identify as “foodies,” why magazines like Bon Appétit hold their thrall, why we clamber for reservations at buzzy spots like St. Lawrence in Vancouver and Calcutta Cricket Club in Calgary. All of the Foodies of the Year we’ve named in this issue are creating the local connection that we are craving in our cities—and the more “connected” we become virtually, the more we seek it out in the real world. Calgary’s Lourdes Juan, for example, has tackled food waste in her city, launching the first annual “Feeding the 5,000” event, collecting food that would otherwise be discarded, then transforming the ingredients to serve lunch to over 5,000 Calgarians. It’s an event that no doubt brings those who experience it closer to understanding the issue of food waste and to each other in the moment. And Glasfurd and Walker have been the brand designers behind many of the top spaces in Vancouver: here, a beautiful dinner plate; there, a gorgeous menu design that creates a mood for the evening—all illustrations of their artistry. There’s truly a visceral connection that comes from dining in one of their rooms. Each of our winners moves the dial on our food scene in Western Canada, and we’re the luckier—and more connected—for it. As you look through this issue, I hope it leads you to discover some of the ways food is creating connections in your own life and with your own city; perhaps even the people on this list are the minds behind some of those connecting points.

1706 WEST 1ST AVE ARMOURY DISTRICT VANCOUVER 604 683 1116 LIVINGSPACE.COM

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DESIGN

S H O P P I N G // T R E N D S // P E O P L E // S PA C E S // O P E N I N G S // I N T E L

one to watch

The Adapter

marni bowman, furniture designer, Franklin St. Studio, Vancouver “Designing is not a super-conscious thing to me—it’s sort of a gut feeling,” says Marni Bowman. Though she may not use the word herself, she’s a natural: someone who turned a degree in natural resource conservation (and a woodworking class at a community centre) into a hands-on relationship with wood when she opened her Franklin St. Studio in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood four years ago. The material, under her hands, is transformed into clever dual-purpose pieces with a slight Scandinavian bent—a sleek walnut medicine cabinet; her double-sided T.H. room unit with plank shelves, a mirror and a work surface. “I design things that are first and foremost attractive, but second, highly functional,” says the designer. “Everything is customizable and dynamic. Nothing is static.”

Evaan Kheraj

—Jessica Palacio and Stacey McLachlan

Shop Talk Furniture designer Marni Bowman and her T.H. room unit in her Strathcona workshop.

westernliving.ca / j u ly / a u g u s t

2 0 1 8 2 3

WLDESIGN // shopping

by RosemaRy Poole

Anicka’s Pick

Right Plant, Right Place

Style and Substance Tom Dixon’s new Terrazzo candles ($131 small, $249 large) see the resurgent material used to contain Mediterranean-inspired scents of bergamot, lemon and green fig. arealifestyle.ca; hutk.ca

Leaf Supply (Rizzoli, $47) does the work of two books, offering advice on how to keep houseplants alive and happy, plus guidance on using them in interior decoration.

Swedish Cooee Design Ball From $25, available at Kit, kitinteriorobjects.com Ah, those Swedes: really nailing the minimalist aesthetic while having some fun, too. I spotted these Swedish Cooee Design Ball vases the last time I was in Kit in Calgary (another place that nails that modern-fun combo), ranging in shades from millennial pink to a dusky dark green. They look pretty clustered in varying sizes, or placed solo as a pop of colour on an al fresco dining table.

For more of Anicka’s picks, visit westernliving.ca

Easy, Breezy

NOTEWORTHY New in stores across the West.

Faux Bois Ann Sacks’s new Anello field tiles (available in black or white, from $34 per square foot; gold inset pieces sold individually from $12 per piece) see extruded porcelain tile imprinted with the familiar whorls, rings and grain patterning of cut wood. annsacks.com; empirekitchenandbath.com

2 4 j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Fringe Festival Sunday Dry Goods’ Aztec towels ($64) are made from two layers of woven Turkish cotton for a lightweight muslin-like feel and efficient drying time. sundaydrygoods.com

For B&B Italia’s Bay outdoor furnishings (this sofa, $14,497), British design duo Doshi Levien shaped double-braided polypropylene fibres to create air pockets and impart a light and open look to the voluminous form. informinteriors .com; lebellearti.com

YOU CREATE THE VISION,

WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;LL PAVE

THE WAY.

The new ABÂŽ Aztec Classic is made for even the most difficult of terrains. It accommodates any design that calls for a larger stone that will enhance the beauty and character of any outdoor space. Start your vision at Belgard.com or Expocrete.com

WLDESIGN // shopping

Good Bunch Caine Heintzman’s Vine light fixtures for Vancouverbased Andlight feature dramatic clusters of opalescent glass and chrome that almost appear to grow down into the room (pendants available in configurations of three, five, seven or nine lights, $1,995 to $5,495). chester-fields.com; vividconcepts.ca

All in One Wetstyle’s highly customizable Déco bathroom vanities, washbasins and mirrors (pricing on request) make quick work of bathroom renovation decisions. cantubathrooms.com; royal flushbathboutique.com

Floor Show Made from hand-knotted silk and Tibetan wool, Sebastian Herkner’s Mainland area rugs for the Rug Company (available in two colourways, $15,232) reference the intersecting grids and connections within cities. avenue-road.com

Field Study Sized to accommodate dinner for four (and an opportunistic ant or two), this classic picnic basket from Mûr ($155) features woven Appalachian white ash construction and a gingham-checked liner in vinyl fabric for easy care. murlifestyle.com

Drumbeat

Second Coming Cast iron that has been salvaged from industrial engines and other products gives the Mater Imago wall hangers ($75 to $100 each) by Danish design studio Pederjessen a one-off, varied appearance. grshop.com

2 6 j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Basket: Joel Cyr, Mûr

Made of textured concrete with a painted finish, the smartly priced Etna side table ($69 to $79) recalls the breezeblock facades of Palm Springs mid-century houses. structube.com

With you for every step since 1907.

8385 Fraser Street | BurrittFloors.com CARPET & FLOORS

Celebrating 110 years as Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Flooring Fashion House

WLDESIGN // shopping

OPENINGS Hot new rooms we love.

B y L A R y s s A VA C h O N

VICTORIA Salt Shop Salt and its pure goods—think biodegradable toothbrushes, naturally mixed Artifact Skin Co. masks, chic enamelware, geometric-print wool pillows made on Salt Spring Island, silk-screened tanks and more—is officially taking over Biophilia’s pop-up space in the Fort Common District this summer. This will be Salt’s second location in Victoria featuring mindful, local and imported eco-conscious products, and the brand even pledges to go plastic-free by the end of 2018. The Fort Common, 813 Fort St., saltshop.ca

VANCOUVER Lynn Steven After vacating its former Gastown spot, Lynn Steven reopens further east on Powell Street as a wellness boutique dedicated to clean beauty. The whiteand-black Scandi-style space houses only products tested by the team to make sure everything is non-toxic, as well as ethical and cruelty-free. Carrying cult beauty brands like Ilia Beauty and K’pure Naturals, Lynn Steven also introduces an in-store recycling program where customers and community members can return their empties and other beauty accessories (like hair dryers and old toothbrushes) guilt-free. 51 Powell St., lynnsteven.com

Untitled-1 1

2018-06-12 3:13 PM

EDMONTON Poppy Barley To coincide with its rebranding, this custom footwear shop has redesigned its permanent Southgate flagship location to create a colourful space that will feature interactive elements such as a private shopping room, high-tech ordering system and digital screens. This location will also be dropping its new, mysterious fall line with larger selections of shoes and accessories for women and men. Southgate Centre, 726–5015 111 St., NW, poppybarley.com

WLDESIGN // great spaces

B y S ta c e y M c L a c h L a n

A CUT ABOVE

Work It Out Extra product is tucked away in the island’s drawers. There’s a printer slyly installed in there, too, so Patrick can use the kitchen as a fully functioning office.

Frame by Frame Works from local artists incorporated here and peppered throughout the room are rotated regularly to showcase new talent.

Heritage Hoax Made from a foam click-in-place product, the “brick” wall looks incredibly real—especially once Bohn finished it with drywall mud to add a little grit and character.

3 0 j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

When most couples want to spend more time together, they’ll make a movie date or take an Italian cooking class. Newlyweds Chris Weber Mirlach and Patrick Mirlach, on the other hand, decided to open a hair salon. Chris is a stylist renowned for his colour work, and Patrick has made a career in retail management, so the duo was more than up for the challenge. Inspired by chill-buthomey salons in L.A. and Australia, they called in interior design firm House of Bohn to help bring their vision for Vanilla Loft to life. “There was kind of an instant concept of doing an artist’s loft,” says designer Karin Bohn. “Their style is very bohemian and kind of casual but still fresh and edgy and modern.” The ceiling was already exposed, so Bohn installed a faux brick wall to amplify the industrial-heritage-L.A.-cool spirit. An openconcept kitchen offers a place for stylists to hang out at the counter with a coffee between appointments; power outlets in the island let clients sit and work on laptops as they’re waiting for their colour to set. For those who want a cozier spot to hang out before or after a makeover, there’s the teal sofa from West Elm that sits on an antique rug in the waiting area. At the workstations, custom gold-rimmed oversized mirrors help elevate the room from the typical beauty-parlour set-up. “Salon design is tricky because a lot of stuff—salon chairs, wash sinks—is hard to customize because it can be very cost prohibitive,” explains Bohn. “But if you don’t have special features that are unique and different, a salon can look like any other salon.” They’ve been married three years now, but inside this dreamy salon where the Mirlachs now work side by side, the honeymoon phase still feels very much alive. “It feels like home,” says Chris.

Tracey Ayton

Inside an L.A.-inspired North Van hair salon with some lofty design ambition.

4600 East Hastings St., Burnaby, BC | (604) 299-0666 | www.norburnlighting.com

style | selection | service... @ online prices

WLDESIGN // outdoor furniture we love

By BarB sligl

Day Tripper

LOUNGE ACT

The elliptical spread of the Arena daybed by Roda ($17,000) is constructed out of gently yielding tubular-knit fabric with a just-so incline of a backrest—and it’s the perfect platform from which to survey the great outdoors. Hail, summer! rodaonline.com

When it comes to summer lounging, it’s a material world.

Net Rewards Raw Appeal No two of these handcrafted teak-and-aluminum dining tables ($12,900) are the same. The tables, part of the Raw collection by Danish designer Henrik Pedersen for Gloster, feature live-edge, split-wood tops that are meant to be left to the elements, allowing the rich-brown teak to morph into silvery grey—changing as the seasons do. gloster.com

Wrap yourself in the woven form of the Dragnet lounge chair by Kenneth Cobonpue (from $7,855). Inspired by fishing nets, the seat and ottoman feature bright-red fabric twisted and looped around a stainless steel frame, making them a worthy catch indeed. bloomfs.com

Armchair Traveller The Erica by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia ($2,248) is light and airy (aluminum frame and interlacing fibre) yet cushy (ergonomic padding) with some very vibrant hues to sink into. bebitalia.com

designer’s pick

Ben Leavitt

Loll About For Loll Design’s new swaying version of the classic Adirondack chair, the Lollygagger rocker ($910), the sturdy lounger gets reimagined and made from recycled plastic for modern aesthetics and sensibilities. And there’s an integrated bottle opener...of course. lolldesigns.com

3 2 j u LY / A u G u S T 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

“A well-designed exterior space is the marriage of form and function. Let the function be obvious and the form ... anything but! This Cloud bench ($2,000) from Bend Goods is the only type of cloud I want to see on a sunny summer day. I love this sofa—it’s cheeky and fresh and fun to look at, even when the long days of summer have turned into the soggy days of September.” bendgoods.com Ben Leavitt of plaidfox studio, VancouVer

Arena daybed: Andrea Ferrari

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604.520.0800 www.sandysfurniture.ca

SPONSORED REPORT

SMALL SPACE, BIG IMPACT California Closets demonstrates how to yield maximum results and design-forward living in Vancouver’s smallest spaces

ith more and more people downsizing, homeowners face a conundrum: how to fit years of stories, memories, and memorabilia into a much smaller space? All of a sudden, storing and displaying a lifetime of cherished mementos can become a puzzling chore. Maximizing space while making it still look beautiful is all part of the design consultants’ role with California Closets. They meet with clients to determine what’s physically possible and effective in a given room while also in line with their vision, budget, and style. A recent project involving a senior couple’s move from a large home to a two-bedroom condo downtown is an example of what can result when creative thinking, careful design, and the kind of solutions that California Closets offers all come together. The pair was ready to downsize from their 5,000-square-foot residence to a luxury 1,200-square-foot suite with sweeping downtown views. They employed interior designer Danny Chan of Happy Home Design, who specializes in smallspace interiors, to completely design the entire space. Of distinct importance, Chan wanted to showcase their figurines, books, and other special items with the least amount of shelving and clutter possible. He had a particular vision and high standards, so he partnered up with David Adamian of California Closets to transform his ideas into reality, exceeding expectations with the results. The two met at the California Closets showroom, where they collaborated, went over design examples, products, and finishes, before discussing the project in detail at the couple’s new home. “The client wanted efficiency and elegance,” says design consultant David Adamian. Chan adds: “We had also just finished the walls with beautiful wallpaper, and we wanted to be able to see it.” Working with two adjacent walls, Adamian proposed a floating shelving unit Created by the Western Living advertising department in partnership with California Closets

with clear glass shelves. It provides ample room to display items as well as hidden compartments, concealed with flip-up doors, for objects that need to be stored out of view yet still be easily accessible. The pair’s memorabilia are accentuated without the shelving itself dominating the room. “The floating-design concept made unit lighter and more elegant, with the ability to utilize the floor space underneath more efficiently,” Adamian says. Chan wanted to keep the gorgeous graphic wallpaper in view. Adamian suggested that the unit not have any backing. “Most cabinet systems have backs and would have covered the wallpaper,” Adamian says. “Only California Closets can do shelving systems without backs.” The backless design also allows abundant natural light that comes in from floor-to-ceiling windows to reflect off the walls. The shelving system has builtin, dimmable LED lights, turning the unit into an attractive piece of art in itself in the evenings. “The lighting illuminates the unit gorgeously,” Adamian says. As an interior designer, Chan was pleased with the quality of product and level of service that Adamian was able to bring into the project. As this success story illustrates, it’s not just closets that California Closets can redesign and transform; offices, bedrooms, garages, and other areas can be reimagined to functional and stylish effect.

California Closets provides professional installation by its in-house experts, and its materials are all made in Canada. To learn more or to book a complimentary consultation, please visit www.californiaclosets.ca/.

David Adamian

604.320.6575 californiaclosets.ca/vancouver VANCOUVER 2421 Granville Street | BURNABY 5049 Still Creek Avenue

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WEST VANCOUVER, BC The developer reserves the right to make changes, modifications or substitutes to the building design, specifications and floorplans should they be necessary. Renderings, views, and layouts are for illustration purposes only. Sales by MLA Canada Realty. E.&O.E.

HOMES I N T E R I O R S // A R C H I T E C T U R E // D E S I G N // L I V I N G

Modern Love

Ema Peter

“There’s an East-meets-West, Zen-like feeling here,” says designer Robert Bailey of this Vancouver home. “It is meant to be a very peaceful house: quiet and reflective.” It’s seen in this stunning and airy entryway, where the house’s principal rooms are accessed by a floating staircase, past the first of two Bocci 28 series light installations, and artwork by Joan Miró. A barrel-vaulted ceiling with glulam Douglas fir beams soars as high as 30 feet above. To see more of this space, turn to page 52.

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FORMULA: NONE A not-so-builder-basic formula reimagines the spec home. by AmAndA Ross // photographs by EmA PETER

Timeless Design The Falken Reynolds team aimed to create an airy, contemporary space that wouldn’t overwhelm potential buyers while at the same time ensuring timelessness that any homeowner could grow with.

ike outsized personalities, there will always be spaces that impose their design will on you, usually with over-the-top pomp and circumstance. Maybe it’s furniture on steroids or sweeping drapes layered over wallpaper; it might be dizzyingly kaleidoscopic patterns jumbled together like a Middle Eastern bazaar gone wild. Whichever they are, their take-no-prisoners flashiness demands your relentless attention. Conversely, quiet restraint can be equally dramatic, without giving the viewer whiplash. It might take a little longer to get to know the space intimately, but you can plumb its depths over time. For this stunning Vancouver house, its powerfully quiet details register only after careful, studied contemplation; elegant, simple moderation informs the striking space but asks for your attention only with a whisper. And the home wasn’t designed for just anyone—it was designed for everyone. Chad Falkenberg and Kelly Reynolds of Falken Reynolds Interiors never set out to design for a spec house. Speculating on Vancouver’s real estate market isn’t for the faint of heart, with 33-foot lots on the city’s east side clocking in at well over a million dollars before the hammer even lands. But when Kenton and Jayme Lepp of Moosehead Contracting—who’ve worked with local architectural stars like BattersbyHowat and D’Arcy Jones— invited the duo to collaborate on a project from the ground up, they jumped on board. Oftentimes, cheap material from economy-driven builder-basic houses eventually ends up in the landfill because of its shorter life cycle. A blank slate designed with quality in mind would allow the designers to imprint their signature clean, modern ethos but also challenge them to curate an aesthetic for a broad spectrum of buyers without breaking the bank. The key to the interior would hinge on inspiring details

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WL HOMES // formula: NoNe Light and Bright “A ceiling can feel monotonous and not overly interesting,” says Chad Falkenberg of Falken Reynolds. In between the ceiling’s joists, the team ran a recessed cavity as an interesting way to get light into the kitchen with more of an architectural detail (left). Having the lights recessed also removes the glare that often accompanies recessed lighting.

dovetailed into Moosehead’s clean-lined shell. Much of the pair’s inspiration comes from renovations where they “see a lot of really bad things largely because things aren’t considered.” Their job is to fix it, whether it’s a view that’s not properly capitalized on or a kitchen that’s not functional. The firm has garnered a reputation for beautiful and graceful craftsmanship that draws heavily on contemporary lines, but with this project, they would need to design and value-engineer from scratch in order to maximize quality while still being conscious of price. No small feat. “Good design and bad design cost the same, so why not design it really well?” Falkenberg says of the process. Not knowing who the end client would be could have stumped someone less experienced, but already having a winning formula meant they could hit the ground running. “We use the term ‘warm minimalism’ or ‘a quiet palette,’” Falkenberg further explains. “It’s doing things in a simple way so

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owners can then layer their life into the house.” From the exterior, the home itself is a classic Craftsman, but the almost-3,000-square-foot interior is all Scandinavian-meets-WestCoast-modernism. Timeless yet on trend, spare but inviting—the interior is clad in light elm wood, natural stone and the designers’ unfussy approach. Clever and thoughtful high-design details reveal themselves to lingering gazes and further deliberation. From floor-toceiling closet doors with pivot hinges to floating stairs that add highend custom detail, the overall result is the antithesis of cookie-cutter. Slow-release elegance and beauty in the home abounds: a slatted oak screen at the stairs doubles as a natural room divider yet keeps the space airy and open; a low-lying built-in bench by the fire topped in raven Caesarstone includes storage but also serves as occasional extra seating; overhead lights in the kitchen are recessed and painted black to add dimension and visual interest. At first blush, the overhead rows

Restrained Palette The kitchen cabinetry is a mix of white and black lacquer paired with elm for a modern yet warm combination of materials. In the adjoining staircase, a slatted floor-to-ceiling divider provides visual separation so that when visitors enter, they don’t feel like they’re right smack in the dining room. “It’s a perforated connection to the entrance,” says Falkenberg.

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WL HOMES // formula: NoNe

“Most people don’t want their home to look like a staged real estate listing; they want it to look like it’s ready for a cover shot for an interiors magazine.”

look like beams until you realize they’re simply a dark, inverse beam-like detail. As well, the team “tried to be conscious of materials that would last—quality materials like Caesarstone and good plumbing fixtures like Hansgrohe, but mixed in an interesting way,” says Falkenberg. “When you see our spaces for the first time, you see modern and clean…almost efficient at first.” He adds: “But what we try to do is then create interesting touchpoints—it’s the less-obvious things like the millwork and the quality of a fixture that people really notice after they’ve lived in a space for a while.” Coincidentally, the family who ended up buying the house works in the design field. Their lowlying furniture complemented the low-profile millwork; their lack of clutter is already a perfect fit. One could be forgiven for thinking their collection of books was actually the designers’ attempts to style the space.

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Smart Planning The master bedroom is designed with the team’s classic restrained palette, creating a white and calming space for its future residents. In the study, they used books as a design element for perfect form and function (left). “Big expansive walls lend themselves to books,” says Falkenberg.

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RECLAIMED BEAUTY

by AnickA quin // photographs by EymEric widling

RIght at Home Designer Martine Ast in her Varsity Estates living room with her 20-monthold son, Hugh. Ast has a fearless love of colour, seen in the dozen pieces from Calgary artist Aron Hill and the vintage club chairs featuring a print of celery-green and coral pheasants.

Designer Martine Ast radically updates a vintage ’70s home in Calgary, with more than a few playful nods to its original era.

artine Ast has a knack for spotting potential. Her previous home, featured in our January 2014 issue, was an unrenovated ’60s bi-level in Calgary’s Dalhousie neighbourhood—one that she’d transformed into a warm, open space featuring a riot of colour and character. But even as she wrapped up the renovation of that home, she was already itching to find another project. “I’m just looking for the right place—something untouched again,” she’d said back then. And, sure enough, she found that great potential again, this time in this ’70s-era home in Varsity Estates. The two-storey walkout was perched above a golf course that offered the possibility of great views—if only the windows were bigger and a sunroom didn’t block the way. Rethink the floor plan, pull a wall down here, open up to the view there, thought Ast, and the dated space could have a second life as a great home for her and her family—including her husband, Stephen Hubbard, and their almost-two-year-old son, Hugh. “Working within the confines of an older home, you don’t have the luxury to create all these new spaces,” says Ast, who’s worked at Paul Lavoie Interior Design for over a decade. “You work within the footprint and create within that area.” The first task was to capture those views out back. The sun porch that acted as a barrier between the living room and backyard was reclaimed as interior space in the living room. The formerly shoulder-height windows on both levels were brought nearly to the floor, and the living areas were reworked to better fit with modern living—open concept for the main floor save for the master bath and Hugh’s adjoining room, and a new powder room where once was a pantry. (The home originally had five bathrooms, which Ast reduced to a more user-friendly three.)

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WL HOMES // reclaimed beauty

Hang Time On the lower level, the coffee table once belonged to Ast’s grandfather; she had it stained a rich black to fit with the vintage ’70s sofa. Overhead, inset wallpaper features swirls of smoke to give the room a jazz-club vibe.

At the front of the home, Ast brought the entry doors right up to the ceiling and added glass around them, bringing light into the living space inside. From the entry, guests can head up a few steps to the main floor, where a striking architectural railing replaces what was once a wall. That railing, a tribute to the home’s original era, was a project in and of itself—Ast rescued it from a home in Bel-Aire that was about to be demolished. “The contractor called me and said, ‘If there’s anything out of the house you want, come and get it,’” she says. “I had one evening. I called my brother-in-law, and we went there with a metal grinder and a sledgehammer and ripped it out.” Originally painted, the railing was sandblasted by Modern Metals, who then plated it with polished chrome. “It’s literally the highlight of the home for me,” says Ast. “And I’m so glad to have been able to reuse this, to recreate and reinvent it for our space.” Throughout the house, there’s a playful use of both high contrast (all of the millwork is a combination of a rich charcoal stain paired

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with painted warm-white cabinetry) and bold colour and pattern— Ast is known for fearlessly introducing creative combinations. In the living room, for example, a pair of vintage chairs have their original fabric, a playful bird motif that has become stylish and current in a way that “almost feels full circle,” says Ast. The nearby main feature wall is painted a striking black, the perfect contrast for boldly colourful artwork from artist Aron Hill. And textured and patterned throw cushions create points of contrast in shades of lemongrass, chartreuse, lime and coral. In the master bedroom, Ast wasn’t able to find the square footage for a walk-in closet, so instead she lined one wall with storage, cleverly combining the interiors from Ikea’s Pax wardrobe inserts with custom-millwork doors. The black and white millwork is thoroughly modern, while boldly floral drapes—Chiang Mai Dragon by Schumacher—nod to the original era of the home. “They’re a very heavy, textural linen,” says Ast. “It’s really reminiscent of what would have been

Vintage Vibe The curtains in the master bedroom were selected for their heavy, era-perfect feel (top left). Ast had custom storage built for the coupleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extensive record collection (top right). In the master bath, black and white marble make an angular flooring pattern (bottom right). Outside, the balcony feels like a treehouse (bottom left).

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WL HOMES // reclaimed beauty

Back to Green The original windows in the living area were just shoulder height, but Ast brought them down to the floor to capture the view to Silver Springs golf course the/ ahome. 4behind 8 j u ly u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

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WL HOMES // reclaimed beauty

Playful Design The green bureau was a family heirloom that Ast had spray lacquered (top left). The railing in the entryway was rescued from a demolished home in Bel-Aire (top right). Son Hugh plays at a vintage kids’ table and chairs, in front of artwork by Michelle Eva May (bottom right).

hanging in this house in the ’70s when it was first built.” Downstairs, the loungey vibe of the main living space, where vintage pieces combine with more contemporary finds, is inspired by the couple’s extensive record collection (latest favourites: Dave Brubeck and Bahamas). Wallpaper on the ceiling appears to look like smoke, reminiscent of a jazz club. The sofa is a ’70s original, black with a gold and yellow floral pattern. (“I bought it from someone who I’m sure kept plastic on it their whole life—the fabric was pristine,” says Ast.) A pair of vintage tub chairs frame her grandfather’s teak coffee table, along with a lamp she received from an aunt and uncle. Overall, it’s a home that’s made to be lived in—warm and welcoming, with conversation zones that naturally flow from one space to the next. But is it on to the next great find? Ast smiles. “The temptation of a new project is always appealing. But we’re very comfortable where we are at the moment—so I think we will stay put for a while.”

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Colour and Calm In the open living and dining room, Andy Warhol’s 1970 silkscreen series, Flowers, is installed on two walls, providing a riot of Day-Glo colour. “They make that room so happy,” says designer Robert Bailey.

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FRESH PERSPECTIVE With this award-winning interior design in West Vancouver, designer Robert Bailey offers a formal approach to coastal living. by RosemaRy Poole // photographs by ema PeteR

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WL HOMES // fresh perspective

rom the outside, the house follows the storyline of others in the Whytecliff Park area of West Vancouver: post-and-beam architecture resting on land that tumbles down toward the grey-blue water below. Yet inside, the narrative shifts slightly. Instead of being immediately drawn to the views beyond, one is drawn inward, lured by walls of vibrant artwork and meticulously sourced layers of custom furniture, textiles and imported stone. Designed by Robert Bailey and featuring more than 8,200 square feet of interior space set over four levels, the house offers an elegant retreat for a multigenerational family that quietly challenges preconceived notions of coastal modernist living. Streamlined and well connected to the outdoors, certainly; casual, it is not. “The formality is different from what most people seek in Vancouver, in a modern way—it’s not trying to be a chateau,” says Bailey. “Rather, it’s an expression of what a more formal contemporary life could look like.” Bailey is a registered interior designer and not one to shy away from a traditional, formal aesthetic: a distinctive, worldly glamour is evident throughout his projects, be they in Rancho Mirage, Beverly Hills, Whistler or the Okanagan. Here, that approach aligned with the homeowners’ desire to reconcile the structure’s contemporary form (by Robert Ciccozzi of Vancouver-based Ciccozzi Architecture) with a personal collection of antique furnishings and artwork that includes pieces by Andy Warhol and Joan Miró. The sloped half-acre site, which descends from street level down

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West Coast Elegant Outside, Dedon furniture sourced through Brougham Interiors is used throughout the space, creating multiple vantage points from which to take in postcard views of Howe Sound. The pool was situated near the waterfront (opposite, bottom) for both greater connection to the rocky beach below, and to reduce noise. The guest room, which appears to float over the main floor (opposite, top), is a bay into the house and borrows light from the exterior glazing wall. Every element was considered with an eye to restfulness: “We floated the ceilings so all the air is delivered through slots,” says Bailey. “We always try to diminish any visual pollution of switches and grilles.”

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WL HOMES // fresh perspective

Seaside Retreat In the family room, a mantel in bronze Armani marble (matched to the one in the living/dining room) lends contrast to the architectural concrete. An area rug by Zoë Luyendijk, whose studio is based on Mayne Island, “references place and context,” says Bailey.

Rock of Ages The powder room is designed to conjure up the mood of a luxury hotel. The deep grey wallcovering is Puntina by Sahco, the onyx countertop is from Bordignon, the onyx vessel sink is from Stone Forest, and the wall sconces are from Urban Electric.

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to the shoreline, was also a consideration. As a result, the private areas of the house—four bedrooms and a study—are located on the split-level entry floor, while the public living spaces are located downstairs, allowing for a direct connection to the outdoor living and dining areas in the backyard overlooking Howe Sound. Deeper still into the house is an entire floor devoted to health and wellness, complete with a gym, a massage room and a bathroom fitted with a traditional sauna in white cedar—all well positioned to serve the outdoor pool set out on the lowest part of the property. (Though it is common to place a pool near a house’s main living or entertaining areas, here it is set at the waterfront to forge a connection to the rocky beach below and to keep noise to a minimum.) “There’s an east-meets-west, Zen-like feeling here,” offers Bailey. “It is meant to be a very peaceful house: quiet and reflective.” With some interior design projects, there is a point of inflection, that moment where the concept crystallizes, setting the process on a forward trajectory. In this case, it was the shell of the structure itself— with its crisp white walls, glulam Douglas fir beams and sections of smooth-finished architectural concrete—that set the course. The kitchen millwork, for example, was matched in colour and style to the concrete as a way to help it recede into the background and call attention to other carefully layered elements, like the large-scale painting by Spanish artist Juan Genovés, the David Weeks chandelier and the table and chairs from B&B Italia. “Because the kitchen is in an open

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WL HOMES // fresh perspective Serene View A variety of fabrics add softness and help dampen sound in the master bedroom. Among them: a wall of upholstered panelling (Ravenna in travertine through Glant Textiles), drapes lined in blackout fabric, and a tiered Fortuny chandelier in Italian silk. The case goods in the room, including the night tables and footboard shown, are custom designs by Robert Bailey Interiors.

environment, we wanted it not to be a ‘wow,’” says Bailey. “It’s very much an understatement.” In the adjoining living and dining room, Bailey makes a convincing case for mixing styles and periods. Andy Warhol’s Flowers series of silkscreen prints, produced in 1970, is installed on two walls, supplying a Day-Glo counterpoint to the grand piano, a fireplace mantel in bronze Armani marble and the homeowners’ cherished pair of William Switzer armchairs, which were re-covered in an Italian jacquard fabric sourced through Donghia to fit the scheme. The shades of lilac, lavender and eggplant seen in this room repeat throughout the home’s other mostly neutral rooms, part of a strategy to impart a feeling of formal luxury and to soften crisp lines. “Because the house is quite masculine, we tried to add some femininity,” says Bailey. “There are a lot of plush velvets, cashmere, wools and beautiful brocades that maybe bridge time a bit—they are not as specifically located in now. We like the projects to look like they evolved over time or were part of a life story.” Creating that story, that worldly glamour, that meticulous layering, is the result of a long, winding process. Eight years in the making, from construction to these pages, the completed design was recently recognized with an award of merit by the Interior Designers Institute of B.C. at their annual Shine Awards. It is designed to withstand the test of time, or perhaps for just whiling away time, watching the passing ferry boats.

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Class Act In the master bathroom, quartzite stone is used on the walls and countertop for a calm, seamless look; striated dolomite marble flooring adds to the white-on-white scheme. The lights are Glacier pendants from L.A.-based David Wiseman; the stool is by Warren Platner for Knoll.

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Studio apartment, pied–à–terre, family room, den.

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Carlo Ricci

From the streets of Winnipeg to the bike drive-throughs of Victoria to the Alberta wilderness, here are the storytellers, bartenders, brewers, do-gooders, chefs and more who are raising the bar for all foodies across the West.

WLFOOD // 2018 foodies of the year

the constant gardener

JC Poirier What’s your motto? Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

A Chef’s Day Off We asked St. Lawrence chef and owner JC Poirier which fine Vancouver establishments he frequents when he’s out of the kitchen. BREAKFAST I usually go to the Birds and the Beets for breakfast before heading to work. I love their bread and the breakfast sandwich—it’s amazing. LUNCH Harvest Community Foods is my idea of a perfect lunch. The ramen is tasty and healthy. And try a side of kale gomae. DINNER I’m torn between Kissa Tanto (his order: tajarin pasta with butter and mushrooms) and Savio Volpe (his order: fire-grilled chicken with lemon and rosemary). “I could probably eat chicken every day.”

St. Lawrence

It’s hard to imagine JC Poirier cooking anything other than ParisBrest, vol-au-vent or mille feuille—the French-inspired fare coming out of the kitchen at St. Lawrence in Vancouver—but it’s taken him nearly 15 years to get here. In 2004, Poirier left Montreal— and a position at Normand Laprise’s Toqué!—to work with Rob Feenie and Marc-André Choquette at the legendary Lumière in Vancouver. He then went on to cook French-inspired nose-to-tail dishes at the upscale Chow (his first solo venture), and when that closed down, he turned his attention to authentic Neapolitan pizza at the casual Pizzeria Farina. This ultimately laid the foundation for his ultra-successful Railtown trattoria, Ask for Luigi, which won a chart-topping four categories at Vancouver magazine’s 2015 Restaurant Awards, including Best New Restaurant and Restaurant of the Year. Now Poirier’s going back to his roots at St. Lawrence, serving an elevated-but-playful take on the type of food he enjoyed eating as a kid growing up in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec: crispy pork rinds in vintage maple syrup tins, steak tartare with pomme gaufrette, venison tourtière cheekily topped with a miniature Habs flag, rice pudding with salted caramel sauce. In a cozy room that feels like an old-school brasserie, it’s comfort food served by Frenchspeaking staff and paired with French wine . . . or a Labatt 50 tallboy. It’s all decadent and rich and indulgent—the exact opposite of what we’ve come to expect in a smoothie-loving city—but it’s the humble, honest food Poirier was always meant to cook. (He even nabbed the same two honours, Best New Restaurant and Restaurant of the Year, at the 2018 VanMag Awards.) —Kaitlyn Funk

Carlo Ricci

Chef and owner, St. Lawrence, Vancouver

Meet the elusive duo behind Vancouver’s most coveted craft beer: Matt Kohlen and Adam Henderson.

What’s your motto? We should open a brewery.

the Chill AF dudes

Matt Kohlen & Adam Henderson

Portraits: Carlo Ricci; beer: Dennis the Foodie

Owners, Superflux Beer Company, Vancouver

No website. No email. No phone number. No brewery. All signs point to peak hipster, and in another time and place, the enigma that is Superflux—with its just-perfect branding, its preciously high pricing ($22 for a fourpack? Why not? I’m never going to own a house anyway!) and its near-constant panic-inducing shortages—could be all that’s wrong with craft beer. But instead Adam Henderson and Matt Kohlen, both 35, have become the brewers with the golden touch: starting with creations like the now-legendary first run of the hazy Colour and Shape IPA and growing into a series of collaborations with everyone from Four Winds to Steel and Oak, this duo seems to have some innate sense of figuring out what Vancouverites want to drink before they know it. A spicy/ sweet porter based on Tacofino’s Diablo cookie? Frickin’ delicious. A hoppy American IPA with the über-meta name of Craft Beer Is Dead? Genius.—Neal McLennan westernliving.ca / j u ly / a u g u s t

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WLFOOD // 2018 foodies of the year

SUMMER COCKTAILS for the patio

QUEEN’S CUPPA 1 oz Tanqueray gin ½ oz ginger liqueur ½ oz sweet vermouth ½ oz lemon juice 2 oz Earl Grey tea Handful of mint 1 dash Bittered Sling Lem-Marrakech bitters Place ingredients in a shaker tin and shake for 7 to 10 seconds. Strain over fresh ice into a Collins glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel and sprig of mint. This recipe can also be doubled/tripled to be served as a punch or in a pitcher.

Your NightCap

DAZED AND CONFUSED 1½ oz Zacapa rum ½ oz Mia Amata amaro Bar spoon Chartreuse 7 drops chocolate bitters 7 drops Bittered Sling Lem-Marrakech bitters Place all ingredients in a mixing glass and mix for 10 to 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a lemon wheel.

hair of the Dog

BRUNCH WITH BAE

Kaitlyn Stewart Bartender, Royal Dinette, Vancouver

Of course Kaitlyn Stewart travelled to Mexico City’s World Class Bartender of the Year competition this past summer with three suitcases stuffed with mixology ingredients—we’d expect nothing less of the cocktail wizard who makes locally sourced ingredients her calling card behind the bar at Vancouver’s Royal Dinette. (The drinks menu there is rife with creative riffs, like the campingthemed Kumbaya, with its cherry cedar bitters and hickory-smoked rye, and the Wind Mule, a coffee-liqueur-infused take on the Moscow Mule.) So, armed with her homemade shrubs and her collection of B.C.-made spirits, Stewart set off . . . and, no surprise to us, 6 4 j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

returned home a champion. It’s not her first win on the competition circuit (she’s got victories at the Smirnoff Caesar Challenge, the Canadian Whisky Cocktail Competition and Speed Rack Canada Female Bartending Competition under her belt), though she is the first Canadian to secure the world title. And the 31-year-old bar director now finds herself in the unique position of being the ambassador for Canada’s cocktail scene, an honour that means she’ll be away from her post a lot more this year, travelling the world as a bartending judge. We’re missing her already, but we’ll wait it out at Dinette’s bar in the meantime, with a Stewart creation in hand: what better way to toast our homegrown Cocktail Queen?—Stacey McLachlan

1 oz Ketel One vodka ½ oz amaro ¼ oz Tia Maria Pinch of citric acid 1 dash Bittered Sling Lem-Marrakech bitters Ginger beer Place all ingredients except the ginger beer in a shaker tin and shake for 7 to 10 seconds. Strain over crushed ice into a copper mug and top with ginger beer. Garnish with a lemon twist and a coffee bean.

Kyoko Fierro

the world champ

H Y ’ S S T E A K H O U S E VA N C O U V E R | 6 3 7 H O R N BY S T ( H O R N BY & D U N S M U I R ) | 6 0 4 .6 8 3 . 7 6 7 1 | H YS S T E A K H O U S E. C O M

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2018-04-25 3:03 PM

The West Lives Here

(and Tweets, Instagrams, Facebooks, Pins, Wins) Daily stories that connect you to the best of Western Canadian designs. Fresh, local topics that keep you in the know. Plus the Western Living Recipe Finder, with hundreds of our best recipes that you’ve come to expect from Western Canada’s lifestyle source—as gorgeous on your phone as it is on desktop. But that’s just the beginning. See more at WesternLiving.ca. The West lives here. Daily.

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WLFOOD // 2018 foodies of the year

the storyteller

Kevin Kossowan

Writer/filmmaker, From the Wild, Edmonton

Will Travel for Food: 3 Forest Forage Gems With his From the Wild outdoor cooking series, creator Kevin Kossowan hunts for his share of forest floor-to-plate ingredients. Here are three of his top picks:

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GAME: WHITETAIL FAWN Growing up, whitetail was deemed unworthy of hunting because moose was the meat animal of choice. Later in life I realized that whitetail is delicious, too, if you don’t shoot a big buck. Whitetail fawns are the size of a large lamb, are delicately tender, and the meat is grey-pink like dark turkey meat. It’s the venison that would change the mind of any venison hater. They’re also an abundant species that we can get a few tags for every year.

Cooper & O’Hara Photography

When the apocalypse hits, we’re making a beeline to Kevin Kossowan’s house. His yard in a modest central Edmonton neighbourhood is better stocked than most produce aisles: a set of fruit trees (including three varieties of cherry, two apple and a pear), raspberries, haskap bushes, saskatoons, strawberries, currants, and too many greens and veg to name. Then there are five laying hens scratching around in a backyard coop, near a hand-built cob oven and an epic woodpile stash. To round out his family’s larder, this next-level DIY foodie and independent filmmaker and a handful of his culinarily inclined friends hunt, fish, and forage the Western Canadian wilderness. And the realities of procuring wild foods, as well as the mind-blowing abundance, is the basis for his 2018 James Beard Award-nominated video-on-demand series From the Wild. “We explore the wild culinary spaces around us,” says Kossowan. “It’s our family and friends. We’re not casting a TV show, so it’s a highly personal journey.” Watched by subscribers all over the world and now in season four, Kossowan’s show is changing the way we see the boreal forests, mountains, lakes, streams and coastlines of Canada. And he makes us question where we got the notion that food should ever come from a grocery store.—Jennifer Cockrall-King

PLANT: LABRADOR TEA Labrador tea could be on the flag of the boreal forest (if it had a flag). It’s everywhere—a neat evergreen plant in the rhododendron family that has been used as a herbal tea for eons for a reason. It’s delicately flavoured and

has aromas of mushroom and light evergreen; it’s a little earthy. It has pretty white blooms in June; some seek those blooms exclusively for tea. We’ve discovered that a strong tea from the leaves makes a great braising liquid. It’s also easy to harvest, dries easily on a sheet pan, is easy to store and is easy to use—just drop a few leaves in a pot and boil. Those aromas and flavours bring you back to the boreal.

FISH: BROOK TROUT It’s like a char, or a minisalmon that you get in Alberta. It’s an introduced species and it can outcompete native species, so you can eat your face off.

the trailblazer

Malorie Aubé

Eugene Uhuad

Farmer and owner, Country Accent Heritage Breeds, Bawlf, Alberta

When Malorie Aubé imported her first pair of breeding Mangalitsa pigs five years ago from Hungary, she set about to change the way we understand, eat and prepare pork. “Too often I hear people complaining that pork is too fatty and they can’t digest it,” says French-Canadian-born Aubé, the owner of Country Accent Farm in Bawlf, Alberta. “But Mangalitsas have a genetic predisposition to produce a higher grade of fat, one that is loaded with vitamin D, balanced, flavourful and healthier for you.” It’s worth noting that people were clamouring to buy this fat by the pail at a recent Hungarian festival. Mangalitsas, also known as woolly pigs because of their dense curly fur, originate from the AustroHungarian empire and were almost extinct in the 1990s. Thanks to her breeding program, Aubé now has more than 300 Mangalitsas and sells them across the country, with regular demand from Alberta restaurants like the Guild in Calgary and the Fairmont Banff Springs. Renowned for its dark red marbled meat and buttery lard—yes, you can cut it with a fork—the meat-to-lard ratio varies with the type of Mangalitsa, sex and season, thereby lending itself to a variety of preparations. “We use the fat to make pie crust, puff pastry, pesto and confits, and it is our secret ingredient for frying the most amazing doughnuts and French fries,” says Aubé. “Then, of course, there are chops, sausages, the best charcuterie, and we also make soap and moisturizer from it.” Aubé lives off the grid (they generate their own electricity, get milk from their own cows, honey from their own bees), so the fatty Mangalitsas were the last part of the equation. Aubé’s passion for pork has also allowed chefs to showcase the heritage breed, coming up with new dishes that push the culinary envelope. Shokunin’s chef Darren MacLean makes a Mangalitsa bacon cured in miso ramen, while the Banff Springs Hotel created an offal and house sausage haggis as well as popcorn served with smoked Cholula pig skin. “It takes a lot of education to change people’s palates,” says the busy pork producer, “but people need to realize they have a choice when they choose pork, and we have one of the best options.” And did we mention they deliver?—Karen Ashbee

What’s your motto?

Le bonheur c’est comme du sucre à la crème. Quand on en veut, on s’en fait. The English translation is: “Happiness is just like sugar fudge. When you want some, you make it.”

What’s your guiltypleasure food?

These days it is charcuterie, but I also like espresso-dark chocolate blood brownies, called blood brownies because they use the blood of the pig, and Baileys Irish cream with blood truffle served on a stick (cake pop-style).

westernliving.ca / j u ly / a u g u s t

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WLFOOD // 2018 foodies of the year

The dream Team

Joseph Chaeban & Zainab Ali Owners, Chaeban Ice Cream, Winnipeg

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cottage-cheese base is infused with vanilla bean and Winnipeg’s Beeproject honey. Most ingredients are from Manitoba sources, like the strawberries in Prairie Barry, the beans from Dogwood Coffee in the Mustang Sally and the milk from Stonewall, Manitoba. Each offering is a beautiful blend of the local and the global—scoops worth putting on a parka (or summer tank-top) for.—Stacey McLachlan

What’s your motto? Love makes miracles.

Ian McCausland

In a saturated artisanal-ice-cream market, it’s no easy feat to inspire a lineup ’round the block—and it’s even more impressive when you can do it on a 30-below Winnipeg winter day. But husband-and-wife duo Joseph Chaeban and Zainab Ali have (repeatedly) done just that since opening Chaeban Ice Cream in the South Osborne neighbourhood this past December. After their community helped 13 of Ali’s family members escape the ongoing Syrian conflict, the duo opened Chaeban Ice Cream as a thank you. As she told Global News, “What better way to show [gratitude] than by serving ice cream and putting smiles on people’s faces?” And their Lebanese-style ice cream (inspired by Chaeban’s own heritage and experience as a second-generation cheesemaker) has created enough of a fan base that the shop has become a permanent fixture. Though there’s a do-good angle here (they even have a charity tip jar that they donate to a different organization every month), that’s only a fraction of the appeal. Chaeban and Ali have shaped a one-of-akind menu of flavours: Baba Beets mixes in sour cream and ricotta cheese with roasted beets, orange zest and poppy seeds; Abir Al Sham combines rose water, orange blossom and toasted pistachios with rare orchid-root powder. Even the most basic of flavours, vanilla, is anything but—the

the Food Fighter

Lourdes Juan

Founder, Leftovers Foundation, Calgary

Six years ago, Lourdes Juan found herself picking up a load of day-old bread from a local bakery to bring to a drop-in centre and got to thinking about how much other food might be lost to the landfill each night around the city. She began calling restaurants and coffee shops, asking if they could wrap up their food at the end of the night for her to pick up and donate to agencies in need, and her grassroots idea took off. The Leftovers Foundation now has almost 200 volunteers between Calgary and Edmonton; in the two cities combined, they rescue more than 4,000 pounds of food each week, connecting 36 vendors with a number of service agencies. Last year, Juan and her team launched their first annual Feeding the 5,000 event in Calgary, a global initiative that began in London, U.K., to raise awareness of food waste. Enlisting hundreds of volunteers and chefs from the SAIT Culinary Arts program to collect food that would otherwise be discarded, she helped the team transform the ingredients into half a dozen dishes (think bread pudding with fruit compote, potato salad, carrot bisque and cookies made with spent brewery grains) to serve 6,750 Calgarians lunch—further proof that we can all eat well and waste less.

Gutter&Credit Jager Kokemor

—Julie Van Rosendaal

What’s your motto? There is an opportunity for positive change everywhere you look. You just have to be looking.

WLFOOD // 2018 foodies of the year

the brand gurus

Aren Fieldwalker & Phoebe Glasfurd Founders, Glasfurd and Walker, Vancouver

Do good work for good people.

Where Design Lives Aren Fieldwalker and Phoebe Glasfurd like to create design that lives in the world on all the touchpoints, from signage to uniform lapel pins.

The Vermillion Room

Chinatown BBQ

Osteria Savio Volpe

Bao Bei Kamil Bialous

What’s your motto?

Name a restaurant that opened in Vancouver in the last five years: Kissa Tanto, St. Lawrence, Savio Volpe, Mak N Ming . . . every one of the top names that come to mind relied on Glasfurd and Walker’s visionary and holistic approach to branding, from menu and signage design to cutlery and serveware. Partners in business and life—they met in Australia just over 12 years ago and came to Vancouver in 2007 when Fieldwalker decided it was time to return home—the pair have been the go-to branding team for Vancouver’s dining scene, and that’s no accident. “I love what restaurants do to a city in terms of activation,” says Glasfurd. “But it’s also about the scope of what a restaurant has to offer, all the touchpoints—from signage and design to lapel pins for uniforms. In terms of scope, where our design lives is much more interesting.” It’s in the details, as they say: for Vancouver magazine’s Restaurant of the Year, St. Lawrence, for example, the G&W-designed plates have the well-worn feel of a set that’s been in a Quebec brasserie for decades. For the übersuccessful launch of Botanist in the Fairmont Pacific Rim, they riffed on Ste. Marie Design’s elegant art deco (and, natch, botanical) design with both quiet typography, and a staircasethemed motif that hints at the restaurant’s location at the top of the lobby. And while Vancouver’s scene has been undoubtedly shaped by the pair, their influence is now being seen around the world—a series of coffee shops in Tehran, clients back in Glasfurd’s home country of Australia, several jobs in Toronto and another Fairmont project, the newly revamped Vermillion Room in the Banff Springs Hotel. And it’s an influence that the pair takes quite seriously. “In terms of a brand perspective, there are very few things that live fully in the real world,” says Glasfurd. “Restaurants are something that are very physically and viscerally here for people and those attached to it. That’s something quite special.”—Anicka Quin

What’s your motto? Make it happen!

Okanagan Crush Pad

5 Perfect Wines for Summer

Okanagan Crush Pad founder Christine Coletta shares her top picks. YOUR TOP SUMMER ROSÉ Mirabel Rosé of Pinot Noir ($33). Delicate, beautiful fruit flavours; guava and melon with a citrus twist.

the groundbreaker

Christine Coletta

Concrete eggs

Lionel Trudel

Founder, Okanagan Crush Pad, Kelowna, B.C.

It’s easy to think that wine regions are forces of nature, evolving on their own, constantly maturing and getting better, but the truth is, if it weren’t for dynamic people pushing the envelope, they would remain stagnant and uninteresting, like Switzerland. Exhibit A in this theorem: the dynamic Christine Coletta. In her previous incarnation, she founded Coletta and Associates, the dominant wine branding and marketing company in the province and the key force in changing public perception of B.C. wine from something considered overpriced and underwhelming into a commodity that the buying public could get excited about. But it was when she took Teddy Roosevelt’s advice and “got into the arena” of actually making wine that we saw just how much of a dynamo we had on our collective hands. With husband Steve Lornie, she founded Okanagan Crush Pad, which in short

order became the pre-eminent custom crush facility, letting those who dream of making wine but have no winery in on the game. And if that wasn’t enough, she started her own brands—Haywire and then Narrative—and then populated them with an international roster of experts to set them on a course to making some of the region’s best wine. First up was hiring Kiwi winemaker Matt Dumayne (FOTY 2017), engaging legendary Italian wine consultant Alberto Antonini and then, for good measure, adding Chile’s Pedro Parra, the world’s foremost vineyard soil expert. And the team began to radically move the Okanagan wine conversation forward: organic, concrete eggs, natural wine, wild ferments are all just a few areas that OCP has been at the forefront of. Their recent purchase of the 50-acre Seacrest Mountain Vineyard—bringing their total to 80 acres—shows that this force of nature moves only in one direction—forward.—Neal McLennan

THE WINE TO GIFT TO YOUR BEST FRIEND Coolshanagh Chardonnay ($34.50). Fresh lemon and lime with a very subtle hint of butterscotch. It’s an expression of north Naramata and demonstrates how the Okanagan can stand on the world stage. YOUR GO-TO ALL-AROUND SUMMER WINE Meinklang Grüner Veltliner (from $26). This is a beautiful natural Demeter-certified wine from Austria. BRING THIS TO THE NEXT PATIO PARTY Loveblock Pinot Gris (from $27). Lots of similarities between what Erica and Kim are doing in New Zealand and our own efforts in the Okanagan, and I love comparing. THE SPECIAL-OCCASION WINE Our newly released Haywire Vintage Bub 2013 ($35) sparkling wine. It was quietly hidden away in our cellar in hopes that we would forget about it. Five years later, the result is a toastier, creamier version of the original release. Worth the wait. westernliving.ca / j u ly / a u g u s t

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WLFOOD // 2018 foodies of the year

the architect

Kunal Ghose

Chef and owner of Fishhook, Fishhook at Mermaid Wharf, and Dobosala Cantina and Ride-Thru, Victoria

What’s the hardest part about your industry?

Lillie Louise Major

There isn’t much about running three restaurants with almost 50 employees that isn’t hard. If you love the game then it will always remain fun and rewarding.

Chef Kunal Ghose appeared on this list in 2009, lauded for his first Victoria venture, Red Fish Blue Fish (“the best eco-friendly fish and chips of your life,” declared our editors.) Fast-forward to 2014 and the opening of Ghose’s second restaurant, Fishhook, which built on his expertise with sustainable seafood and incorporated rich flavours from Indian and French cuisine, vis-à-vis tartine sandwiches heaped with smoked fish, moules prepared with a white wine vindaloo broth, and divine coconut-infused potato and seafood chowders laced with salmon-belly bacon. This past year saw the opening of two more restaurants: first, a second location of Fishhook that adds brunch service, a cocktail menu, a 100-seat patio—and reservations (at last!), then Dobosala, a play on adobo and masala, says Ghose, with a menu inspired by his favourite ingredients the world over. Beyond the expertly prepared fare and atmospheric rooms, there is a long look toward city-making, part of a broader philosophy to conserve and share resources. Ghose has worked with the mayor in support of Victoria’s new network of separated bike lanes (Dobosala is mere feet from the Pandora Street bike lanes and incorporates a ride-thru window to serve passing cyclists and pedestrians), and he has served as culinary chair for Our Place Society’s annual Hungry Hearts event, which raises funds for the organization’s work feeding and sheltering the homeless. If he’s building an empire, he’s taking the city along with him.—Rosemary Poole

7 2 j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

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TRAVEL

T H E W E S T // W O R L D W I D E // W E E K E N D G E T AWA Y S // R O A D T R I P S

Crowd Control The last few years have seen an explosion in safari tourism, and each new lodge scrambles to outdo the others with its luxurious offerings (Bvlgari toiletries! Château Pétrus!). But there’s a growing movement of those eschewing the high-end trappings of back home: people who want to get back to nature and experience Africa in its more primal state with tents, pit toilets and the freedom to roam as you wish. See page 76 for a story on Africa, the old way.

westernliving.ca / j u ly / A u g u s t

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WLTRAVEL // tanzania

A Quiet Place Mobile safaris may be short on Four Seasonsstyle extravagance, but they’re long on a rarer kind of luxury: unadulterated solitude. by amanda ross

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Gutter Alex Berger Credit

don’t want you to suffer,” says our burly guide in his deep, clipped cadence. He’s not tending to a poisonous snake bite or dressing a wound inflicted by the pack of lions sitting a scant few hundred feet from our tent. Rather, he’s referencing the amenities in our camp—three-course gourmet meals, a round-the-clock open bar and an actual flushable toilet—because our comfort is George Mavroudis’s main priority. His other priority, of course, is keeping us alive, but I’ll take the creature comforts tonight after the epically long journey we’ve undertaken to get here. I’ve landed in Arusha, Tanzania, by way of Kilimanjaro by way of Amsterdam by way of Vancouver, and, just like when Teddy Roosevelt left for his grand safari adventure post-presidency, there will be no luxe Singita Lodges on offer here. I’m here to rough it because when Hemingway set out to test his mettle against the continent, he didn’t use his Fairmont points. Back then, a safari was a huge undertaking, with people and pack animals brought along to carry, set up and break down camp each day while the guests followed migrating wild beasts. But the stratospheric cost of such endeavours became their undoing. It’s a logistical nightmare to assemble then disassemble an entire safari camp at a moment’s notice—think of it as akin to dismantling and moving a small village in just one episode of The Amazing Race. It makes far more economical sense to erect high-end resorts and then just zip guests and their binoculars around in off-road vehicles before depositing them back at night in temples of luxury, where wifi, Michelin-starred chefs and bathrooms swish enough to make a Manhattan socialite blush have become the norm in the middle of the bush. Don’t get me wrong—I love luxury, but I fear that the stillness and magic of the African wild gets lost amid all that opulence. And that’s how I’ve alighted upon Mavroudis. “Why on earth would you come all the way to Africa to sit out by a pool for the afternoon?” he muses within minutes of our meeting. Such a sentiment could very well be the mantra for a man to whom old school is the ultimate compliment. For the past three decades, the Tanzanian-raised Mavroudis has been guiding the intrepid into the African bush, far from crowds, cars and massage

Gutter Credit

Who Gnu? The magic of the mobile safari writ large: a gaggle of wildebeest ambling by your front door.

WLTRAVEL // Tanzania

tables—each new day bringing a new campsite and a new kind of animal, all done in a manner that’s faithful to an anachronistic way of doing things: setting up tents for each individual guest (including pits dug for their temporary but, as aforementioned, flushable toilets), a canvas mess hall replete with Persian rug, and a full-service open-air kitchen. The Herculean orchestration required to accomplish this means that almost no one offers these bespoke services anymore. Typically, Mavroudis takes out private groups—large families looking to bond or Fortune 500-style CEOs looking to escape work—but this year marks the first time couples, singles or small groups can sign up. Our motley group of eight consists of Betty, a 93-year-old mother and her daughter, Alicia, from Texas; a former UN Security Council member and his wife; a socialite from Los Angeles with her 10-year-old; and me. If Betty can face down lions as a nonagenarian, I’m confident I can face primitive septic systems. First up: our crew has set up our tented oasis in advance of our arrival at Tarangire National Park—complete with private showers. Bathing this way is luxurious if you’re a card-carrying member of Mountain Equipment Co-op but rustic by Westin standards. Each shower is a basic pulley with overhead bucket. If you use up all your water, there are two people on the other side of the tarp who will quickly and wordlessly exchange your empty bucket for a full one—all you have to do is call out, 7 8 j u ly / A u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

“More water, please!” Although shorthand will also do: I overhear the socialite next door blurt, “Uh-oh!” after her water stream ceases midshampoo—her pail is swiftly replaced by an experienced team who are clearly familiar with the sounds of shower discontent. Midway through my brief dousing, I begin to wonder who would opt for the more austere comforts of Mavroudis’s excursions over the luxuries of a five-star lodge. But I’m told that model Christy Turlington and actor Ed Burns have toured with George—twice—and, later, I sneak a peek at his guest book, which confirms it. One of the guides shows me a picture of Sean Penn and Robin Wright also enjoying Mavroudis’s expert tutelage, while rumours of many other A-listers abound (Mavroudis, for his part, is fiercely private about his well-heeled clientele and demurs when asked about celeb-patronage). “Anyone with money can stay in a Four Seasons, but then someone will inevitably ask for your autograph in the dining room,” is all he’ll say. “Luxury”—he waves a hand across a view unencumbered by any other humans—“is having the Serengeti all to yourself.” And after the first night, I start to get it. There’s a primal rush to communing with nature with only a tarp between us and the almost 3,000 square kilometres of Tarangire’s wild bush. And when an early-morning scouting trip reveals fresh lion tracks, we’re able to swiftly mobilize. We

Arriving Prepared Given the expense of a safari, it’s imperative that you do all you can to make sure you beat back the jet lag that can hamstring a trip in its first few days. Step one: connections. Do whatever it takes to make your trip two legs and avoid connections through Nairobi (delays) if at all possible. From Western Canada, that means KLM to Amsterdam, Amsterdam direct to Kilimanjaro. Firstly they fly the Dreamliner, which lives up to its name with its low-air-pressure environment. You sleep on the first leg (a must), stay awake on the second, and when you land that night, you immediately go to sleep (around 10 p.m.). You’ll probably still wake up early, but that’s fine because so do the animals—who you’ll alertly be following. klm.com

George Mavroudis/GM Safaris

Tents are roomy enough for a bed, bedside tables, a small wood closet and a Persian carpet. Outside, two canvas chairs and a wood trunk serve as a spot for fresh coffee each morning, allowing for excellent sunrise watching.

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“Who needs a screen when you’ve got ‘bush TV’?” asks Mavroudis of Africa’s endless outdoor beauty.

track these majestic creatures by open-air Land Cruiser and, in short order, we spot a mother and cub under the shade of a baobab tree, both of whom accord us the same threat level as a fly. Still, we keep our distance and hunker down with plenty of food and a strategically placed cooler stocked with refreshments should our ogling exhaust us. Mavroudis assures us that being elevated on four rubber tires keeps us safe, but he adds that if we were to step outside the vehicle, our two spindly human legs would immediately ring Real Deal the cats’ dinner bell. Mavroudis’s itineraries are based on the That night, before dinner, we celebrate with Johnguests’ desires. There’ll nie Walker Blue Label, which Mavroudis stocked be heaps of animals, but there might be excurbecause it’s the favourite tipple of one of the guests. sions to visit the rarely (Before stepping on the plane, we all had to file our seen Hadza people, food and drink preferences.) Drinks are followed by whom he has a long relationship with. lamb osso bucco shared around a giant wood table (this, too, will get dismantled and packed up when we leave), then under the light of twinkling stars we head back to our tents by way of a Maasai warrior (an actual one, not a hotel employee dressed up), who escorts us safely to our zippered outposts. In the morning, we make like celebrities and pile back into our private Land Cruisers and simply set off—and therein lies the gift of a true mobile safari. We can go wherever we want, whenever we want, ambling around the bush and checking off the Big 5 or visiting new cultures like it’s the most natural thing in the world. The indulgence of such freedom is underscored the following morning at the famed Ngorongoro Crater, a World Heritage Site, where the bowl-shaped layout of the land is perfect for wildlife viewing. But its renown, coupled with its small size, means that even with the benefit of Mavroudisstyle freedom, there’s no real respite from the hordes of tourists. Thousands of Cape buffalo surround us, but all I can concentrate on are the other jeeps from nearby resorts that have the temerity to be in our vicinity. It’s just then that I realize I’ve become a true convert to Mavroudis’s modus operandi of what is really special about experiencing Africa. I’m still processing my epiphany over the next days when we hit the Serengeti, where the endless expanse means we’re back to being blissfully alone in our expedition. Mavroudis has found a spot literally smack in the heart of the blue wildebeest migration—this is where we’ll camp. There are almost a nonhyperbolic million of these roughly 350-to-550-pound creatures milling about right outside the tents, and our camp is but a dot in their vast 14,600-squarekilometre stomping grounds. Wildebeest graze day and night but, as it turns out, their 24-hour soft braying makes for the perfect sleep app. With a gentle breeze blowing through my netted windows, I drift off on our final night. Not even the greatest Four Seasons concierge could procure such a rest.

George Mavroudis/GM Safaris

WLTRAVEL // Tanzania

WL // trade secrets

Gaile Guevara, Vancouver

The Look

SWEET SEATS

What do you do when a room has more than one focal point? If you’re designer Gaile Guevara, you embrace them all. In this post-and-beam home, the fireplace, the view and the adjacent open-concept kitchen all demand attention, so Guevara arranged components of the Molteni&C Freestyle modular sofa collection in two 360-degree clusters to accommodate a variety of vantage points and uses. “We wanted an arrangement that was dynamic and flexible,” says Guevara. “When it’s just the three family members, they’ve all got their own lounging area, but it can also reconfigure for seasonal changes or entertaining groups. A home should always be adaptable to changing needs.” 8 2 J u ly / A u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / westernliving.ca

Ema Peter

Use modular sofas to create dynamic, flexible seating options.

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